Gwyn has a Wale of a time by Ben Carey Jun 21st 2005

Gwyn Wale, boxing for the first time in his home-town of Barnsley, provided the locals with something to cheer about following his fifth round stoppage over Walthamstow based Mauritian Judex Meemea at the Metrodome on Saturday night. In doing so the pocket dynamo got his career back on track after being outslicked by Doncaster's Steffy Bull for the Central Area lightweight title in February. Making his first appearance for David Coldwell's Koncrete promotions (who promoted this well attended 6-fight show) Wale was eager to impress and almost bulldozed Meemea to defeat in the opening round. A sweeping right hook floored the visitor inside the first minute who groggily made it to his feet at seven. The heavily tattooed Wale requires no invitation to let fly with an avalanche of leather, but try as he might to end matters, the gutsy Meemea stayed upright to the bell despite teetering on wooden legs for the remainder of the opening stanza. To his credit Judex displayed tremendous heart and did enough on my card to win the second round, capitalising on Wale's over eagerness and leaky defence. Catching the Yorkshireman with jolting uppercuts as he charged forward, Meemea was now providing Wale with something to think about as the pair traded in the centre of the ring. Wale regained control in the third, nailing the backtracking Meemea with three right hands in succession without reply as he sought to pile on the pressure once again. Gwyn's progress was momentarily checked however when he sustained damage to his right eye. Fortunately for the Yorkshireman his claret trickled down the side of his face never causing him undue alarm. Despite his early dominance Wale was struggling to maintain his stranglehold on proceedings – the 20-year-old slugger has raw potential but is still very much a work in progress. Meemea, growing in confidence, continued to utilise his long arms to good effect to nail Wale repeatedly with the uppercut as they jostled for supremacy at close quarters. Stung into action, the Barnsley man responded and shook Meemea with a left hook to the temple on the bell to end the fourth. The minute's respite wasn't enough for Judex who became a spent force as we entered the fifth. Pouring on the pressure, Wale's relentless two-fisted attacks finally brought him the stoppage at the 2.20 mark as referee Phil Edwards halted the action after Meemea stumbled backwards after being separated from a clinch. With the win Wale improves to 6-2-1 and if suitably matched can build a healthy following in his native Barnsley. The match was scheduled for six-three's at welter. Munroe eyeing bigger things Pick of this Koncrete show undercard saw Leicester's Rendall Munroe effortlessly stop Alfreton's Darren Broomhill in three rounds to advance his record to 8-0. The flashy super-bantam really looks the part and could emerge as a genuine challenger for newly crowned British champion Martin Power by the end of the year. The Leicester switch hitter floored his man with a left hook in the first and looked on the verge of ending matters until he strayed low which bought Broomhill a valuable breather as referee Kevin Durandt cautioned Rendall to keep his punches up. This one was only a matter of time though and the lanky Munroe, trained by the Shinfields, duly wrapped things up in round three. Pinned into a corner and being hammered to head and body saw referee Durandt rescue the underfire Broomhill 46 seconds into the round. Munroe is one to watch. Rotherham cruiserweight John Anthony made it two out of two with a crushing win over Pudsey journeyman Lee Mountford, it was scheduled for six-twos. Anthony, 30, is a former professional athlete who competed in the decathlon and is built like the proverbial brick shithouse. And as his physique would suggest John packs an almighty wallop. The shellshocked Mountford was carpeted in each of the opening two sessions after being acquainted with Anthony's overhand right but recovered well to arguably sweep rounds three and four. For all his raw power, Anthony is also cumbersome and one-dimensional and appeared momentarily clueless when Mountford elected to get onto his bike and jab and move. Normal service was resumed in the fifth though. Predictably it was the right which did the damage, sending Mountford thudding to the canvas just moments into the round. Somehow Lee made it to his feet but after he was wrestled to the floor once more Chris Kelly decided to end his misery with 25 seconds elapsed. Rising light-heavyweight star John Ibbotson coasted to his fourth straight win with a routine four-round points victory over the evergreen Ojay Abrahams in a contest which never caught fire. The most interesting thing about this match was Ibbotson's weight, 12st 1lbs, which would suggest that the Sheffield man's future will be carved within the super-middleweight ranks. John's build is very similar to that of IBF world champion Clinton Woods – if Ibbotson can emulate just a fraction of Woods' success he will be delighted! Back to the action and following a dreary opener Ibbotson took charge of proceedings in round two, buckling the knees “Me, Myself and I” with a well picked right hand over the top. It was a rare success for John however who frequently fell short with his punches throughout. Abrahams, relishing his role as the villain of the piece, voluntarily backed himself into a neutral corner and attempted to catch Ibbotson with a wild haymaker which drew scattered boos from the perplexed Barnsley crowd. Unruffled, Ibbotson utilised his superior height and reach advantages to keep Abrahams honest for the remainder to take the 40-36 verdict. After briefly flirting with retirement Watford's finest looks capable of soldiering on for a little while yet. Saturday marked his 87th contest. Earlier, Birmingham's Joe Mitchell scored a rare win with an upset sixth round stoppage over Derby's Scott Conway in this six-twos welterweight encounter. Conway, now 2-2-1, made the early running but gradually ran out of steam and was a spent force as he stumbled back to his corner at the end of the fifth. Mitchell sensed this and was all over his man like a rash at the commencement of the final round. A right hook followed by an uppercut heralded the beginning of the end, and when a left hook jerked Conway's head back referee Chris Kelly intervened to silence Conway's vocal travelling contingent. In the opening bout of the evening Nottingham ticket seller Rod Anderton overcame a spirited effort from Doncaster's Nicky Taylor to clinch a fourth round stoppage and up his slate to 2-0 in a bruising light-heavyweight encounter. A left hook floored an increasingly weary Taylor for seven towards the end of the third, and after Nicky voluntarily took a knee to escape the onslaught referee Durandt rescued him 55 seconds into the fourth. The face-first Anderton sure is entertaining but will need to be matched with the utmost caution, one feels.

Go back Comment on this article | Send to a friend | Print

There are no comments. Click here to be the first who comment on this article.